Cloth Update.

Alright so I wanted to post real quick about how our cloth diaper adventure is going so far, what I've learned, what we've tweaked...so on and so forth...so here we go.

All but one of my cloth dipes are Kawaii One Size Pockets. The lone ranger is a BumGenius One Size Pocket diaper, and I really don't like the way it fits Kinnley. I'm not sure what it is about the fit, I just know I don't like it. Eventually, I would like to try different types and brands but I'm fine with the stash I have for now.

The Pail vs. Wet Bag argument. We live in a small house (and by small house I mean a trailer we are currently renting) so obviously anything that I can do to save us space is crucial. Having a pail for dirty cloth just isn't an option (and really, having a pail seems like more work anyways). I have 3 wet bags, 2 large and 1 small size. I hang one large wet bag off a hook over the dryer and keep a small one in the diaper bag. The other is just extra. As far as detergent goes, we're using Rock N Green Lavender Revival Hard Rock. I love Rock N Green because it has detergents specifically made for the type of water you have. We have hard water, therefore we use the Hard Rock. We haven't had any issues with the detergent, but we have also only been cloth diapering for two months. I buy my Rock N Green from Teeny Greeny, a boutique cloth/green store in Kansas City.

I was washing my dipes every other day, but now I'm trying to wash them every four days. I'd like them to last through more than one child, so obviously cutting down on how many times they are washed will help. Not drying your dipes in the dryer will also extend their life. I've been drying mine on low in our dryer, but I finally got a drying rack! I just put the rack out on my porch and let them dry! Easy, peasy. I'm hoping that sun-bleaching them will help get some of the shadow stains out that my diapers have gotten. 

Wipes, wipes, wipes. Until recently we had been using disposable wipes. Boy was that a pain! At the two baby showers that I had, we received a total of 52 wash cloths! So I separated them out, wash cloths that have hems around the edge are for bath time and wash cloths that don't have them hemming are wipes! Of course, you can always buy actual cloth wipes...but this way cuts down on cost for us. My first batch of wipes solution was very simple: 1 cup bottled water, 1 tbs witch hazel, 1-2 drops tea tree oil. My issue with that solution was it is stinky. So my next batch contained the following: 1 cup bottled water, 1 tbs witch hazel, 1-2 drops tea tree oil, 1 tbs veg oil, 1 tbs baby shampoo. I read that the veggie oil helps the solution to be smoother on the baby's bottom and that the shampoo helped made it smell better. That's the solution we are currently using. Its 'ok'. We store our solution in little spray bottles and just spray it onto the dry wipes. That process may change over time, but it works for now.

I've also tried to simplify the whole cloth wipes thing by adding an extra step after I wash and dry my dipes. I stuff the insert into the dipe and then place a folded wipe into the dipe, then I fold the dipe in half and put it inside my bin. It makes it so easy to just grab a diaper when it's changing time, the wipe is already inside! I have just been storing my dipes (and extra wipes) in a bin that I keep in the living room. I also just hang the wipe solution spray bottles off the side of the bin! Everything all in one place!

As far as overnight goes, we don't have many issues or complaints. Kinnley is just over 2 months old now and has been consistently sleeping from about 10 pm until 6/7 am. The first night that she slept that long she just had a regular dipe on and she obviously woke up soaked. So from then on, at bed time, I put a cloth diaper on her that has a regular microfiber insert PLUS a bamboo insert. It's worked so far! As she gets older, this method may have to change. 

A couple things I've learned...

• Always pack an extra outfit for your little one in your diaper bag. Especially if you are new to cloth. Leaks are going to happen. The time is going to get away from you and the next thing you know it's been 3 or 4 hours since your baby's last change and she is wet through her cloths. It's nice to know that you have a back up, just in case. 
• Those annoying plastic sacks that you bring your groceries home in (because you once again forgot to pack your cute reusable bags), those are going to come in handy. Throw one (or two) into a side pocket of your diaper bag. One of these days you'll forget to pack your wet bag for dirty dipes and you'll be thankful for that little plastic sack!

Colder Weather.

Burrr! It's getting so chilly outside! We finally got a Boba and I've been so excited about it! But the first time we put it on I was less than impressed :( Kinnley didn't seem to like it. I felt like it was hurting her legs. At her 2 month appointment she weighed 13.8 lbs. so she isn't quite big enough to be in the regular hold but I tried the newborn setting and she was WAY too big for that! So I followed my mom's advice and googled "Baby too small for big setting but too big for small setting in Boba" and what did I find? I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS PROBLEM! However, it was easily fixed. All you have to do is roll up a receiving blanket and put it in the carrier under her bum. We experimented and IT WORKS! :) I'm once again a happy mama. I was really under some stress because Zach wants to go to the local high school football game tonight and I really want to go as well. But I didn't want to go if Kinnley had to be in the stroller. She'll be MUCH warmer in the Boba, right against me!

The other great thing about the Boba 3G is it has a little built in hood. But I was still worried about her little ears getting too cold and I won't be anywhere today to get her a hat. I went into my bathroom and found a cloth, stretchy gray headband and tied a little knot in it and gave it a try! Sure enough, it fits perfectly and covers her perfect little ears! It's just a bonus that the knot looks so cute!

It's been a CRAZY week! Hence the lack of posts. Monday we had Kinnley's two month appointment and shots, Tuesday our good friend Lanaya came over for a visit, Wednesday we went to Mimi's house, yesterday I had to go to the doctor, and today we have to run back to the doctor and then the football game tonight. Tomorrow, we have plans to go to the farmer's market in a nearby town! I'm soo excited about that! Anyway, today happens to be Zach's birthday!! We are so lucky to have him in our lives!!

Long Weekend.

Wow. Can I just say I am exhausted?! This past Saturday we managed to make it to my sister's volleyball tournament (They got 2nd place! Congrats Vikings!) and to an out of town wedding, but it took A LOT of work. I am a list maker, so I usually start prepping for long trips by making a list (or five). Since we have a baby now, my list making comes in handy and we usually don't forget anything! I think I made our packing lists a week in advance and I always leave it somewhere that I see it every day, then when I think of something else I should pack I just simply jot it down. It also helps me to show the list to Zach, sometimes he thinks of things that I don't.

I have found that I will probably always over pack for Kinnley. I would rather have too much of her things, than not enough of something. For instance, I think we had 10 cloth diapers extra packed. But 10 extra is better, to me, than not enough! Kinnley stayed with my mom and step dad (THANKS GUYS!) so that Zach and I could go to the wedding and enjoy ourselves. Plus the ceremony part was outside and I cannot imagine if we would have had Kinnley with us, BURR! We stayed overnight and then came home on Sunday. We missed our munchkin a bunch!

A weekend away from home means a lot of work to do on Monday. I've got to catch up on cloth diaper laundry, towel laundry, weekend laundry. Plus the usual housework and unpacking to get everything back in its place! Whew!

All the extra work is worth it. We had so much fun while we were out of town, we were able to spend time with great friends and even make plans to hang out with my step sister (she attends college in the same town the wedding was in). A very successful weekend, we are so blessed!

Peanut Butter Everywhere

I am a sucker for Pinterest recipes and all those recipes people share on their Facebook pages. I am always immediately hungry.Today, I decided I was going to attempt my first time baking since the birth of Kinnley. Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. I'm sure you've seen the photos of these cookies around. They are basically just Peanut Butter Cookies that you bake in a mini muffin tin and then when they are done baking, you press a peanut butter cup in the center. Yeah, sinful. And super easy. The recipe I saw originally (shared by my mom) called for a roll of premade peanut butter cookie dough. Now, if you know me or my mom...you know that's not how we do things. We like homemade, from scratch stuff :). So, I started my adventure by putting Kinnley in her bouncer and bringing her into the kitchen. I had just finished putting the butter and peanut butter into the mixer and Kinnley starts to cry...I looked at the clock and sure enough, she was hungry. So I took a nursing break...10 minutes in to my adventure. She was very quiet for the rest of my cookie making adventure. She was very observant, hopefully this means she will be helpful in the kitchen someday. The cookies turned out so, so good. First time baking since giving birth: SUCCESS! But here are a couple tips (disclaimer: these tips were given to me by my mom.)

• Make sure to refrigerate your peanut butter cups prior to making these cookies.
• After baking the cookies and pressing the peanut butter cups in the center, place the cookies (muffin tin and all) into the fridge to help them set up. Trust me on this one. Leave them in the fridge at least 7-10 minutes. 
• Probably a good idea to store the cookies in the fridge as well, unless of course your cookies don't make it that long :) 

The recipe that I have linked above is just the peanut butter cookie recipe. To make the peanut butter cup cookies, just make sure you buy mini Reese's peanut butter cups. OR if you don't mind the premade dough...just buy premade dough and peanut butter cups and have at it! :) 

Labor & Delivery

A bit of a back story:

Zach and I found out in December 2012 that we were expecting a baby. That same night we spent sleeping in the living room taking care of a very sick puppy, Josie, that we had just adopted from a shelter. Oh, the memories. 

We found out in March 2013 that we were expecting a little girl. 

I had a fairly easy pregnancy. Lots of nausea and morning sickness in the beginning, so much that I actually lost a bit of weight. Not much swelling. I think I ended up gaining 20 lbs the whole time (wait til you hear how much she weighed). I never had to deal with anything too terrible (I did have to take the gestational diabetes test twice, pure hell). 

Anyways on to the main event. 

On August 14, 2013 at 11:50 pm I was tossing and turning in bed. I figured that I would be awake at least another hour or so, so I picked up my phone and started scrolling through Pinterest. At 12:05 am on August 15 (my due date!), I decided I actually was tired. So I put my phone down and rolled over. I got a weird feeling. I thought to myself "That couldn't have been my water breaking". You always hear these stories of women who thought their water broke and they rushed to the hospital, only to find they had peed themselves. This thought crossed my mind as I waddled to the bathroom. It seemed like nothing was really happening. I wasn't having any pain or feeling weird, so back to bed I went. I went to turn onto my left side again. ANOTHER weird feeling. I figured that my water had in fact broken, and on my due date of all days. At 12:30 am I decided to wake Zach up and tell him the big news. "No way!", was his reaction. The same reaction I had when it actually happened. We are made for each other. I explained to him our plan (which had been our plan the whole time, I just figured I would remind him). We were going to wait for contractions to be 5 minutes apart and then we would leave for the hospital (30 minutes from our house). I told him that I hadn't even felt any contractions yet, so it may be awhile. He went back to sleep and I went to the living room and started to watch Father of the Bride. At 1:00 am, I started having some serious cramps. From what I understood, contractions would feel like Braxton Hicks+Pain. So I had no idea that these cramps were actually contractions. It didn't take me long to figure it out though. As I walked down the hallway to tell Zach that it was probably time to load up the car, I doubled over in pain. When I got into the bedroom to tell him, I was doubled over again. Thankfully, our bags were mostly packed and I had written the last minute items on our bathroom mirror with an Expo marker (Pinterest worthy idea). We were on our way out the door at 1:50 am. Two steps out the door, I remembered two items: my insurance card and a trash bag (wait for it...). At 1:54 am I text my mom and step dad to tell them we were on our way to the hospital. Between home and the hospital, I threw up 3 times (hence the trash bag) and my contractions were measuring about 4 minutes apart. When we pulled into the hospital parking lot, my last timed contractions were 1 minute and 33 seconds apart. We had to check in through the ER and you'd think when a pregnant woman tells you her contractions are about a minute apart and her boyfriend is standing next to her holding a trash bag full of lasagna throw up that you would type a little faster, nope. A nurse finally brought a wheel chair in and wheeled me over to the labor and delivery unit. I walked from the doors of labor and delivery to my room, with contractions that were a minute apart...this fact still fascinates me to this very day. When we got all settled in our room it was about 3:00 am. My time stamps from here on out might be a little iffy, since I was a little busy and all. The nurse confirmed that my water had broken (this was a big shock to us, please note the sarcasm) and that I was dilated to 6 cm. She asked if I wanted Stadol to take the edge off the pain. I had fully planned on having no epidural, but was open to other pain medicines IF need be. I told her that I would take the Stadol. Funny thing about Stadol, it is given intravenously and can only be given at 6 cm or before, once you hit 7 cm you cannot receive it. The nurse could not find a vein, I told her not to let that hurt her feelings...I'm a hard stick. The second nurse came in to find a vein and when she got the IV all set up I was 8 cm. So no Stadol (which I was perfectly fine with, God definitely had my back in Labor & Delivery, he knew I could go pain med free). Labor was obviously going very quickly. Some time in all of the action, my mom showed up and my doctor had made it. Once I was dilated to a 10 and got permission to push, it took her about 10 minutes (and took me about 3 full pushes) for her to make her arrival. At 4:49 am on August 15th 2013 Kinnley Taylor made her arrival, weighing in at 9 lbs. 11 oz and 21 inches long.

I am beyond thrilled that my mom was able to make it in time for the delivery. The original plan was that during the delivery it would only be Zach and I, but I am so glad that we let the plans change naturally. My mom was there to watch her first grandchild come into this world and I know that will be a special memory for her for the rest of her life. Plus we wouldn't have had all of these amazing pictures of Kinnley and Zach and I :) 

We were so blessed with such an amazing labor and delivery and we couldn't have been happier that our baby girl had arrived safely and was so healthy. Since both of us were healthy, we were able to leave on August 16th around 11 am. 

Kinnley Taylor happens to be named after my sister, her Aunt Taylor. We hope that Kinnley will grow up to be amazing and beautiful just like her Aunt :) 

the Beginning.

First, a confession:
I have started at least 3 blogs in the past. All of which never held my attention and I stopped posting on them after 5 or so posts. So here's to hoping this blog will last longer than the rest :)

I am hoping to post about a slew of things on this blog (the majority will probably have to do with my journey of being a new mom). Cloth diapering, breastfeeding, Pinterest (my addiction), my family, cooking, and projects (if I ever have time for projects...). I also hope to add posts here and there about different baby related products that we love (or hate).

A little about the blog name: 
You may have noticed that the name of my blog is "Another Work of Heart". Why? Well, its not because one of my failed blogs was named "Work of Heart". That blog actually belongs to my mom! She posts about all kinds of things over there. Recipes, projects she tackles, and most recently the baby shower that she held for me. Her most recent project has been a chicken coop! But you won't find anything about her chickens and that backyard adventure at the Work of Heart blog. Nope. Those chicks have their own special place :) Hummingbird Hollow Hen House. You can find links to both of those blogs on the right side of this page, under 'Be sure to visit:' :)

Here are a few things you can look for in future posts:

• My labor and delivery story
• The Big Cloth Diapering Adventure
• Calendula Cream
• Pinterest: The Addiction